COLUMN: Is It Time to Give Adam Boqvist Another Chance?

Adam Boqvist was taken out of the Florida Panthers lineup after doing a solid job helping the team stay afloat amid injuries. Is it time to bring him back?

The Florida Panthers have been having major issues on the defensive side of the puck lately.

In their past four losses (omitting a 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets), Florida has allowed 4.75 goals-for per game and has an increasingly long list of mistakes coming from its bottom two pairs.

And in all four of those games — and the 10 since Aleksander Barkov returned to the lineup — Adam Boqvist has been watching from the press box.

Boqvist had a solid start to the year.

He quarterbacked a power play marred by injuries to its starts to a respectable 20-percent clip considering the circumstances and put up two assists in the nine games he played with a plus/minus of minus-five.

Maurice wanted to see the offensively-minded defenseman adapt to Florida’s more physical, defensively-sound style of game (and that minus-5 figure certainly raises that concern) and after the team went on a seven-game winning streak with Barkov back, it became hard to find a place for him.

“It’s a real challenge for him, and he is a more extreme example of playing different styles of game,” coach Paul Maurice said. “He’s not a big lad, so he has to figure out ways to play our game at his size.

“And then we go on a run. We go on a seven-game heater and there’s not really a place to make a change. The other guys jump ahead of him, so it’ll probably be either when somebody really struggles or there’ll be an injury opportunity he’s going to get in. And he needs to be right and ready when that happens.”

Well, that run is over now.

The Panthers are 1-4-0 in their past five games and both options of the second pairing have looked subpar during that stretch.

Uvis Balinskis is a minus-8 on the year (and has had quite a few gaffes over the past few games) while Nate Schmidt is a minus-2.

Florida demoted Balinskis to the second power play unit during Thursday’s game to the Chicago Blackhawks and the top unit looked rather uninspiring during the 3-1 loss to the NHL’s worst team.

Boqvist helps in both of those departments.

Perhaps a move like that could serve as a wake-up call for the team, and could certainly spark some confidence in the 24-year-old defenseman who has shown signs of potential to be a solid contributor at the NHL level.

The 2018 first-round pick scored 11 goals and 22 points in a 52-game season in the NHL at one point before injuries and defensive woes kept him out of the Columbus Blue Jackets lineup at times, but the potential is there.

Perhaps all of that time watching from the press box and grinding it out in practice has helped alleviate things on the defensive puck.

There’s only one way to found out, and this point, the Panthers could use just about any spark they can get.